Taylor says ‘farewell’

MONROVIA, Aug 12 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Isolated by weeks of fierce fighting, Liberians  began Tuesday, August 12, their first day without Charles Taylor as President, amid prospects that relief supplies will be soon moved to their areas.

Taylor Monday stepped down and left the country for a luxurious exile in Nigeria, a key demand of rebels who have taken over four-fifths of the country of 3.3 million people and laid siege to the capital for over two months.

His departure for asylum in southeastern Nigeria sparked hope that peace would finally return to Liberia, ravaged by two bloody wars in which Taylor has been a key player.

The commander of the U.S. task force of three warships sailing off the coast of the capital was expected to go ashore to coordinate reopening of the port of Monrovia to humanitarian aid.

The anti-Taylor rebels Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) control the port, which is key to resolving the humanitarian crisis in the capital, where some 250,000 people face acute food, water and medical shortages.

The rebels have earlier pledged to pull back after Taylor left the country.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said in Washington late on Monday that General Thomas Turner would go ashore by Tuesday to meet the U.S. ambassador in Monrovia, the commander of the West African peacekeeping force and the head of the rebel force that controls the port.

"This is the time for all of the parties to commit themselves to a ceasefire, commit themselves to peace and let us begin the task of relieving the suffering that has afflicted the Liberian people for so long," Powell was quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP) as saying.

No ‘Large’ Commitment

Will their lives be better now?!

The United States has resisted strong international calls to send peacekeeping troops to Liberia.

But it has moved the three amphibious warships - the USS Iwo Jima, USS Carter Hall and USS Nashville - within sight of Monrovia to send a "powerful message" to the warring factions on land, a U.S. defense official said.

There are about 3,000 marines on the ships.

"I would not expect any large commitment of U.S. forces," said Powell, but added some U.S. troops might assist the west African peacekeepers secure and put the port back into operation.

U.S. President George W. Bush welcomed Taylor's departure, calling it an "important step toward a better future for the Liberian people."

"The United States will work with the Liberian people and with the international community to achieve a lasting peace after more than a decade of turmoil and suffering," Bush said.

Efforts For Cooperation

Handing over power to his vice president, Moses Blah, Taylor made clear he felt pressured to step down and lashed out at the United States and regional powers for forcing his hand.

As he boarded a Nigerian plane for exile, troops from Taylor's own government forces joined rebel gunmen to dance on a bridge across which they had been shooting at each other during the heavy fighting that has wracked the capital for weeks.

But prospects for cooperation were unclear as LURD and a smaller rebel faction have yet to say if they will work with Blah, a former guerrilla leader who fought alongside Taylor in the Libyan-trained rebel movement that triggered the 1989 conflict and eventually swept them to power.

In his first speech after taking charge as head of a caretaker government, Blah urged the two rebel groups to "work with us so that the people of Liberia can know peace".

Blah - who was sworn in as Taylor's successor on Monday - is set to rule Liberia until October, when a government of national unity currently being negotiated at peace talks in Ghana is due to take over.

U.N. Return

After Taylor’s departure, senior United Nations' World Food Program staff were also set return to Monrovia on Tuesday, for the first time since they were evacuated in June, to assess the population's needs.

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan was quoted by the BBC NewsOnline as saying Taylor's departure would "at last mark the beginning of the end of the long nightmare of the Liberian people".